Tetrahedral packages in a container



7, 1969 R. P. DOYLE 3,420,366

TETRAHEDRAL PACKAGES IN A CONTAINER Filed Nov. 28, 1966 Sheet of 2 INVENTOR.

ROBERT P. DOYLE Mrs. WW

ATTOR NEY Jan- 7, 1969 r R. P. DOYLE 1' 3,420,356

TETRAHEDRAL PACKAGES IN A CONTAINER 12A" IZA 26 INVENTOR.

BE D FIG. 4 R0 RT P OYLE Mn M ATTORNEY United States Patent Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A rectangular container having at least two layers of tetrahedron shaped packages packed compactly therein. One of the layers has the tetrahedrons fan packed in the corners of the container while the other layer is composed of tetrahedrons so positioned that one edge of each tetrahedron comes together centrally of the container.

This invention relates to containers and more particularly to a container packed with individual tetrahedron shaped packages.

Tetrahedron shaped packages are known, per se, as evidence by US. Patent 3,244,274, and Re. 25,938 and are employed to package numerous dry, liquid and paste products such as salt, milk and honey. Filled tetrahedron packages are basically produced by forming a web of sheet material into tubular shape, heat sealing the tube together at a preselected point, filling the tube above the heat seal with the desired product, forming a second heat seal above the product at an angle greater than 45 to the first head seal and severing the package in the middle of the second heat seal to form individual packages. In the preferred use of the tetrahedron a pull tab as shown in Re. 25,938 is employed to seal an access opening in the container to prevent the produce from leaking from the package.

The above-described tetrahedron packages have been in commercial use for a number of years but no successful method of packaging these containers for transportation has been developed. One system was to tumble pack the tetrahedron packages into a container in a random manner, which, of course, resulted in punctured containers and inefiicient use of the space available in the outer container. Another method in current use is that shown in US. Patent 3,261,461 where the tetrahedrons are fan packed with a set of tetrahedrons packed in a corner with the seals of one end of the tetrahedron forming the apex of a fan. This method is some what better than the random pack but again either wastes available space in the outer container and/or requires the use of an additional member in the outer container to support the individual tetrahedrons.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a new, novel and eificient method of packaging tetrahedron shaped packages in a conventional shaped outer container.

Another object of the invention is to provide a new and novel compact outer container efliciently packed with individual product filled tetrahedron packages.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will become apparent as the specification proceeds to describe the invention with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:

FIGURE 1 shows the preferred tetrahedron shaped package to be packed;

FIGURE 2 is a top view of one layer of the stacked tetrahedron shaped packages;

FIGURE 3 is a top view of the layer of stacked tetrahedron shaped packages next adjacent to the layer shown in FIGURE 2; and

FIGURE 4 is a view taken on line 4-4 of FIGURE 3 to show the overall stacked outer container.

Looking now to the drawings and especially to FIG- URE 1 there is shown the preferred tetrahedron shaped package 10 having the usual transverse seams 12 and 14 which are substantially perpendicular to one another and seal the package. Located at the upper most apex 16 of the wall 18 is an opening 20 over which is heat sealed a pull tab 22 which can be readily pulled away to expose the contents of the package 10 through the opening 20. FIGURE 1 shows an elongated tetrahedron package, that is a package which has a length greater than the width of either of the seams l2 and 14, but any size tetrahedron shaped package is within the scope of the invention.

The containers of this invention are formed from laminated stock material, the innermost lamina of which is a layer of thermoplastic material substantially impervious and inert to the contents of the container, such containers being now well known in the art. The laminated material used to form these containers is ordinarily one or more layers of paper laminated to layers of polyethylene or polypropylene so that the face of the laminated material which will form the inner face of the container will present a liquid impervious face to the contents. The outermost lamina is ordinarily moisture resistant, either by being formed of a layer of wet strength paper or a lamina of thermoplastic materials such as wax or polyethylene, or both.

FIGURES 24 show a plurality of milk filled tetrahedron packages 10 compactly stacked in a square commercially available outer milk container 24. For the sake of discussion all tetrahedron shaped packages stacked in one layer A will be denoted 10A with their corresponding seams denoted 12A and 14A while the other tetrahedron shaped packages stacked in the second layer B will be denoted 10B with their seams denoted 12B and 14B.

In the preferred form of the invention the method of stacking the tetrahedron packages is alternated so that for any layer the top and bottom layers next adjacent are stacked similar to one another but are stacked different than the intermediate layers. For the sake of discussion the tetrahedron containers 10 shown are considered to be one-half pint containers and it has been found that for the particular container shown the method herein disclosed performs most efficiently when there are twelve one-half pint containers in layer A and nine one-halt pint containers in layer B. These numbers obviously can vary considerably depending on the size of tetrahedron package to be stacked and the dimensions of the outer container.

Looking now to FIGURES 2 and 4 the stacking of layer A will be discussed since such layer should be on the bottom of the container 24 that one side of the package 10A can lie flush with the container bottom 26. The containers 10A are stacked in sets of two or more to form a fan shape with the seams 12A in each set being positioned substantially vertically in the corner of the container 24 forming the apex of the fan while the seams 14A lie in substantially horiZontal position adjacent the central portion of the container 24 to constitute the outer edge of the fan. Depending on the width of the seams 14A, the seams 14A may overlap as shown in FIGURE 2. Looking at FIGURES 2 and 4 it can be seen that above-described layer A provides an open area in the center of the container defined by the downwardly sloping walls of the tetrahedron packages 10A.

To efficiently use the above-mentioned open area, the layer B of tetrahedron packages 10B is stacked as shown with the seams 12B of these packages placed upwardly and generally around the center axis of the container so a that one wall of the packages 10B will generally conform to the downwardly sloping wall of the packages A. The seam 14B will then lie on the downwardly sloping side wall of the packages 10A so that the layers A and B together substantially fill the area therein and present a substantially flat surface for the further stacking of tetrahedrons in like manner.

The number of layers, the number of packages in the layers, the size of the tetrahedron packages and the size of the container is within the discretion of the user and the preferred enclosed embodiment is not limiting on such features.

The advantages of the disclosed invention are numerous. The tetrahedron packages can readily be displayed and are easily transported. The method of stacking disclosed protects the packages from damage from other packages because the stacked packages complement one another and are not tumbled into the outer container. The disclosed method allows the user to pack more tetrahedrons in a given space than other known methods and provides the user and customer a more accurate count of tetrahedrons in the outer container than was possible with the tumble pack without having an operator count each package as it is packed.

While the method and container packed by the method disclosed and described herein constitutes the preferred form of the invention, it will be understood that the invention is capable of alteration without departing from the spirit of the invention.

That which is claimed is:

I. A parallelogram shaped container packed with tetrahedron shaped packages comprising: a first layer of tetrahedron shaped packages, a second layer of tetrahedron shaped packages stacked on said first layer, one of said layers having the tetrahedron packages arranged n sets shaped like a fan, each set consisting of a plurality of packages with one end of each package in the set at the apex of the fan and the other ends of the packages constituting the outer edge of the fan, said sets being positioned in said container with their apices at different corners of said container, and the other of said layers having a plurality of tetrahedron packages each with one end arranged in a substantially upwardly position adjacent the central area of said container and the other end laying in contact with the tetrahedrons in said first layer remote from the central area of said container.

2. The container of claim 1 wherein said container is rectangular.

3. The container of claim 1 wherein said container is square and there are three tetrahedrons in each set.

4. The container of claim 3 wherein said tetrahedrons are one-half pint packages and there are four sets of tetrahedrons in said first layer with one set in each corner of said container.

5. The container of claim 4 wherein there are at least nine tetrahedrons in said second layer.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,451,963 4/1923 Scruby 229--41 3,250,386 5/1966 Boynton 206 3,294,232 12/1966 Wettlcn 206-65 WILLIAM T. DIXSON, 111., Primary Examiner. 

